Some time ago my grandad brought home an old VCR, a video tape player, who knows where he got it- probably a dumpster or the side of the road allways a good source of electronics to play with

Although it was working it was kinda damaged and faulty so I took it apart
Amongst the things I found were a DC motor and some gears and bits of metal.
I noticed, by accident, a long time ago that I could generate electricity with a DC motor (Which is constructed from just what an ordinary generator consists of; copper wire coils and magnets!) So I cobbled them together into this device!

It can generate more than 4 volts easily, at about 100 milliamps. So far it's only powered by hand but I have plans to connect it to a small windmill and generate some electricity from the wind! I could use it to charge batteries or just use the electricity straight from it to power some lights although they would probably flicker and dim as the wind speed changed, but that could be quite nice- like the flickering of a candle flame

That's the set up I have in the photos and the video below; The generator is connected directly to a green LED and an old meter

VCR's have tons of goodies in them. I find the older the better. I have also stripped out lots of DC motors and gears from out of them. You need to hook that up to a small windmill and charge some batteries.